Thursday, September 08, 2005

The Perils of Intarsia Knitting

Well, on my way walk to the train station yesterday, I was working on my second argyle sock when I tripped a passerby with a dangling yarn strand. He didn't fall or anything, just studder stepped. I apologized quickly and kept walking. I doubt he ever realized what the heck he tripped over.

I nearly tripped myself over a different strand about 5 minutes later. The problem, I think, is with intarsia. There's too many dang strands, and they are dangling all over the place! I've tried to tuck the overly long strands into my pocket, but sometimes they come out. The other problem is that I've left the two diamond colors attached to the balls, which produces two large loops hanging out of both of my pockets. Occasionally they get too large and someone will step in one of the loops. So I think I need to either cut the yarn from the balls or consider these socks too perilous to walk. I will probably end up walking the twisty sock instead.

I do enjoy walking my socks, especially now that my walk is considerably longer. The traffic lights are timed almost perfectly for my stride while knitting, so once I get in the "green light" groove, I can walk my knitting with very little stopping. And there is something kind of cool about working up a sweat while knitting.